Demi Lovato Reveals: My 'Skyscraper' Video Was Inspired By 'The Toxicity That Took Over My Mind'

Demi Lovato’s recently-conquered demons—addiction, an eating disorder and cutting—inspired the video for the singer’s new song “Skyscraper,” which debuts tonight on E! News.

“It being a song I recorded before treatment and yet it was providing a message,” Demi tells E! News. “It’s so crazy the way things played out, that it ended up being my symbol and it represented what I am trying to spread the word about, getting help and rising above any issues that [me and] my fans are dealing with. When I sang it for the first time [I was] pouring tears in the studio. I was doubled over, just in pain.”

In fact, Demi reveals that when she initially recorded the song, her voice was weaker because she was “ruining it by damaging it after every meal,” so she then took a stab at re-recording it after undergoing treatment—but that version didn’t truly reflect her pain. “It just didn’t feel the same, so we kept the original one. For me it was, so symbolic.”

A reflective Demi adds, “I remember thinking, this is kind of my cry for help back then, because I hadn’t spoken to anyone about these issues and I hadn’t gotten the help that I needed.”

In the video, Demi appears standing alone in the desert, dressed in white, her makeup subtle and her feet mostly bare. And there’s more symbolism in the video, she told Ryan Seacrest: “There were so many things that represented my addictions and eating disorders and self-harm. When I’m unraveling this black fabric, it was the toxicity took over my mind for so long, that oozed out of every pore that I had.”

She continues of the video’s symbolism, “Because I was suffering inside.. I’m taking it off and walking on broken glass and powering through it. That video was an emotional release for me, like therapy..I kept crying, I was so emotionally invested, and that’s when I realized, that’s what music videos are all about.”